NastyIsland

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Unless M crashes the next 2 weekends, I'm thinking they're probably in. Playing for a seed, now, though, as I think they have a shot at a #2 if they keep winning. I'm not sure who to root for, yet. I'll have something by the end of the week, again.

If everything goes perfectly, I think they have a shot at picking up a few spots. Clarkson is in a freefall, Minnesota goes to PSU, Providence has a road game, and Duluth has a tough away series. If all falls correctly...they have a shot at 7th!

I mean...sure, from that viewpoint, you're right. But...counting on winning 2 in HV, Madison, Minneapolis is a big ask. They need to get to the B10 semis, regardless, and the best way to do that is to host. But, yes...getting road wins is always better.

It really comes down to PWR. Beating ND would certainly help that. A tie would help. I think they will probably need to get out of the first round of the B10 tournament. Hosting the series would be a huge advantage. I tweeted a bit about some things to look for...

I tweeted last night that it currently looks like 12th is the safe spot. If Minn St, Providence, Cornell, or Clarkson win their conference tournaments, then one additional spot will be added. Most of the teams currently 'in' are from two conferences.

It was such a bonkers couple of games. I wish I could explain the numbers more or come up with a few takeaways...but I'm just not sure of a whole lot. There are about 3-5 working theories, and I feel like we'll know more after the OSU series in a couple of weekends.

I've thought about doing something like that, but I list some of the same things in my Breakdowns. And there are plenty of boxscores on mgoblue, uscho, and chn. I'm more looking at how they played and if there are certain variables that are repeatable or isolated. Also, I think the post is long enough, already...especially for hockey, haha. However, I usually am open/willing to adjust things as necessary as long as the content remains readable and smooth.

The difference to me is that JLF was a 3rd round pick. Lavigne wasn't drafted and entered college as a 20 year old freshman...which means he played juniors as long as he could because it was the best opportunity he had. GENERALLY, the rule is that if you're good, they'll find you.

Now, I really like Lavigne. They can win a title with him in net, for sure (obviously they need to improve in other areas). He'll be here another two years, I would guess.

I would still say that JLF is a little more athletic and probably has a higher ceiling than Lavigne and he's two years younger. I think its fine to rotate them more a time, but as we close in on the Big Ten season getting into full swing, it is probably advisable to go with a larger split than 50/50.

To reiterate, I am not down at all on Lavigne...just a bit higher on JLF.

I wasn't a fan of Jones because I thought he was very inconsistent in his rebound control and in some of the goals he gave up. There were multiple soft goals that he allowed. Also, if you look back at the previous few games for Penn State, they gave up 14 goals in their previous three games. Some of those could obviously be on the defense, for sure, but I saw a few that were not. Perhaps, he just had an off-weekend, but I wasn't overly impressed last year, either.

Glad you enjoy the Breakdowns. I track them various ways. Most places will give out shot charts to media, designating what type of attempt each mark was. Some places are better than others about it...and go into more detail. A lot of the times I use the charts because I don't have the time to go back through every single game. However, there are some games that I do go back through and watch and mark my own charts. Some places do not designate special teams attempts. Those I have to go back and at least watch the power plays. I'm sure there are much more advanced ways of doing this -somewhere, but I am mostly just starting out doing most of this. Each of the past couple of years, I've edited/changed some things in my process, etc.

So, PSU had 36 PP shot attempts. I had 7 misses, 12 blocks, and 17 shots. I'm not trying to take anything away from the PK, at all. It was more a comment of not giving up a goal on 36 shot attempts with a man advantage seems like a bit of an outlier. If we count their next 36 shot attempts given up on the PK, I would be very surprised if they do not surrender a goal.

Oh for sure. They've definitely been much more sound on the defensive end in terms of positioning and staying in front of guys. My comment about being lucky was referring to the penalty kill. It definitely seems improved, but giving up 30+ attempts on 7 PPs without giving up a goal doesn't seem sustainable, regardless of how good your PK is. At some point, the man advantage will move defenders and the goaltender enough to find the back of the net.

Also, I know CHN tracks corsi, but I don't think they break it down by zones. I actually track 8 different zones but only talk about House and everything outside of that. It's easier and idk if anything else is relevant. I just like to have as many specifics as I can.

I haven't gotten to doing many previews, yet. That's a bit more than I have time for, especially during football season. However, I am intrigued by this upcoming series because PSU is a high corsi team that tried to keep possession and get as many attempts on net as possible. Michigan looks like their trying to do the same thing. So, it will be interesting who can control the game, when both teams are looking to do the same thing. I know PSU had some talent, last season, but I have not looked into who left/stayed, yet.

I think at this point, getting 3 of a possible 6 points would be desirable, though.

So, the House is the area between all four faceoff dots, angling down to the crease. It looks like Home Plate or a House. It is the best area of the ice to shoot from. So, if you're getting a lot of your attempts from there, your chance of converting those scoring chances goes up. On the flip side, you want to keep your opponent from getting those looks...obviously.